Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 3:44 pm Post subject: University Professors: what did you do after leaving Korea?

I'm currently working as a professor in Korea, and while I'm interested in returning to America I don't really know what I should try to do there, so I'm curious about what other professors have done once returning to their home countries. I'm relatively young and got the job a little over a year ago, I believe, as a result of having an F-visa and two years of experience in a public school here (I don't have an MA). Thanks for reading.

I'd keep quiet about being a 'professor' with just a BA and 2 years public school experience if I were you. A lot of people on here think the title is bandied about far too freely. Can't give you any advice about the States but a lot of people advocate re-training to do something that's always in demand. E.g. nursing, accounting etc...

I'd keep quiet about being a 'professor' with just a BA and 2 years public school experience if I were you. A lot of people on here think the title is bandied about far too freely. Can't give you any advice about the States but a lot of people advocate re-training to do something that's always in demand. E.g. nursing, accounting etc...

I absolutely agree. It's a bit pathetic that you are calling yourself a "professor." Sorry to be so harsh, but you admit you only have a BA. Do you think you're going to be offered a position teaching at a university back home?

I don't think the OP was trying to pass himself off as something he wasn't. As he clearly stated he is "currently working as a professor". My question to you would be do you enjoy the work that you are currently doing? If so, there's always the choice of completing a MA back home or through correspondence.

BA and 2 years experience in a public school then one more year working at a uni on an E2 would at best make you a "guest lecturer" and not a Professor (qualified academic rank) even though your students may refer to or address you as such.

You would have no chance working in academia at the tertiary level back in North America with your academic level and experience.

Retraining (as a teacher) or upgrading your qualifications (graduate level work) would be a minimum that you would be looking at.

Not sure about in the States (although from my past employment research it looks like the requirements are similar) but in Canada you would need a terminal degree (MBA as an example) or ABD for work as an adjunct or as an assistant professor at a uni. A full PhD (or other post graduate degree) would be needed to progress above that.

A real Professor is on who has at least a PhD. If you want to continue to teach, I would strongly suggest you get a masters degree in education, minimum. With that you don't need the TESL/TESOL certificate. A waste of your cash. You will have many more opportunities for employment worldwide with a grad degree, plus ops to teach at a community college in the US if that's where you want to be. Most universities in the US want a doctorate as min. qualifications. Pursuing teaching English overseas is a good thing, too! Enjoy some different cultures!
Good fortune…
M

Am I the only one who is reading this as the OP is looking for advice on how to spin their experience teaching at the university level in Korea into something else once returning home? Take it easy people, typing in 'professor' is quicker and conveys the exact same message as 'I currently teach at a university', regardless of qualifications to do so.

Am I the only one who is reading this as the OP is looking for advice on how to spin their experience teaching at the university level in Korea into something else once returning home? Take it easy people, typing in 'professor' is quicker and conveys the exact same message as 'I currently teach at a university', regardless of qualifications to do so.

If he had written "professor" (in quotation marks) I would have let it pass. But he wrote professor twice without any indication that he understood that he's actually no such thing. If he really does think of himself as a professor, and is actually planning on putting that on his resume when he returns home tp the States, well that's just Eddie Murphy laughing out loud funny. And I'm not only singling out the OP here. There are plenty of other Westerners here (sporting BA degrees with a C+ average) suffering from the same silly delusion.

I have a graduate degree and umpteen years of teaching experience but I would never think of calling myself a professor. Not before I got my PHD anyway.

So what if he has? Answer the question or move on. Jeesh! Some of you foliks have your heads up your own azzes.
People embellish their jobs all the time. Espcially on resumes and that probably includes many who made comments. A garbage man calls himself a 'santitation engineer' if he wants, I could give a rats. I don't think he should be referring to himself as one but its none of my business if he does.

Anyway, OP, to answer your question since others don't want to, the title is a good one and if you did other things other than just teach I would include that as well.

It all depends on what YOU want to do. If you are looking for any run of the mill job, teaching at a foreign university is better than teaching at a private academy generally. Many junior colleges back home need teachers and you have direct experience and often times a Master's is not needed depending on the school.

If your Korean is decent or even if its not, see if any of the Korean companies that do a lot of business in America may need someone to work in their American operations.

You may work on getting that Master's, a cheap one and improve your marketability.

My plan for when I go back home, which I realize might not happen for a long time, maybe even more than a decade, is to transition into adult education. I really wanted to do a B. Ed and continue teaching, but the market for public school teachers in Ontario is such that it's like articling or going through residency without the benefits of becoming a lawyer or a doctor. While I'm here, I plan to add a certificate in adult education, along with a professional designation as a workplace trainer (or, if I'm enough of a masochist, an HR professional), as well as improving my French proficiency so that I can work in both English and French.

I really don't think the original poster plans to continue his career as a university lecturer/instructor/professor/guy-who-teaches-at-a-university back home; if he did, he wouldn't be looking for tips on what to do back home. I'm always curious, though, as to how people transition back home. There are those, of course, who spend a year or two in school after they go back while others use prior experience or education to get jobs right after, but I find that to be less instructive.

Calling oneself a professor when all you have is an undergraduate degree does seem rather odd to me. Even if your Korean university calls you a "professor", and that's your work title, it's a bit rich to come onto Dave's and talk about oneself (to other waygooks) as a professor. We know the gig, and you're just asking for ridicule. It's like he has actually convinced himself that he's a professor. He isn't. Korea is bizarro-land. Please don't think that you can transfer your little delusion back to the real world. It doesn't transfer.

As for those who defend the OP's reference to himself as a professor, I'm assuming they also suffer from the same fantasy. I can just see them now, walking around town, deporting themselves with a certain dignified air, shopping for a new pipe.

Am I the only one who is reading this as the OP is looking for advice on how to spin their experience teaching at the university level in Korea into something else once returning home? Take it easy people, typing in 'professor' is quicker and conveys the exact same message as 'I currently teach at a university', regardless of qualifications to do so.

Or he could call himself an instructor. It's what I wrote on my CV.

To the OP: go back to school if you plan on moving back home. The field is up to you.